Visually the FIFA 16 made a great leap forward with last years installment

EA Sports FIFA 16 sees the return of the long-running series for another year of soccer gaming adventures. The trailer for the game proudly proclaims “Football is Back”. Read on to find out if it is thanks to our review of the latest edition of the venerable title on Sony’s PlayStation 4. Before we delve into our thoughts of FIFA 16 here’s an overview of the game from EA Sports. It’s interestingly concise this year and clearly indicative of the video game giant’s strategy of continuously tweaking the game (often for the better) over the past five years or so. Another year, another FIFA, another season for fans around the world to enjoy one of the biggest pastimes in the world: soccer. Electronic Arts takes players for another spin across the pitch as the 2016 season starts with new features and improvements.

But in a year where it’s biggest competitor has made a great comeback, does this fresh layer of paint on the franchise hold its strength? Visually the FIFA franchise made a great leap forward with last year’s installment, but of course at one point the differences do become more subtle with each iteration, albeit the details can make quite the world of difference. For games in the sports genre there are two goals for presentation; looking good up-close and looking good afar, though previous installments have usually managed to cover both fronts effectively, and FIFA 16 is no exception, though for non-frequent players the transition from 15 tot 16 can go without notice when it comes to visuals.

If you’ve played previous FIFA games on mobile, there should be a decent number of improvements and new features to the gameplay to delight in. One notable new change is the addition of player celebrations. EA states this is a first for mobile devices so it seems they’re trying to close the gap on differences between their mobile titles and the console counterparts. The game is also running on a brand new game engine which fuels the 3D visuals, and it’s optimized for tablets as well so gaming on the bigger display should make things the most enjoyable. In FIFA 16 Ultimate Team, your goal is to build your own dream team. When you first start the game, your team will suck. You might have one or two gold players (the good ones), but the rest of the team will consist of silver (the bad ones) and bronze (the useless ones) players. Your initial squad will also come from a plethora of teams and leagues, so it will have bad on-field chemistry.

The goal in Ultimate Team is to get better players from the same league so the skill and chemistry level of the team will increase. You can get better players by buying player packs using in-game or real currency, as well as target specific players on the transfer market and bid for them using in-game currency. It's an abbreviated version of Ultimate Team best suited to players who don't have time to spend hours crafting the perfect side through endless transfers. Instead you go through a quick draft of professional players to select a 23-man squad, starting with the likes of Messi or Sergio Aguero as your captain, and are set the challenge to win four games. That's it. A fairly simple idea and its rinse and repeat nature makes it quite addictive.

Don’t be afraid to tweak this system or experiment with perhaps a 4-3-3, 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 as these different shape variations can bring out the best in certain players. If you’re a seasoned FIFA gamer then you are likely to have your own system that works for you but you must be careful as the changes on FIFA 16 have meant your old tried and trusted shape may not be as effective as it was last year. So last year’s FIFA 15 introduced the ‘pulling shirts’ function giving the defensive element of the game a whole new feel. Despite it meaning that you could apply further pressure on attackers (if you were defending) or defenders (if you are attacking) it wasn’t developed enough to make a huge difference to previous versions and the referees were far too strict.

Another new feature is the FUT 16 Swop Mode. In just a few moves you can easily swop players and see what it does for the team chemistry. The swop mode also works a lot faster with applying consumables. Another perfect time saver and very helpful.